By Deborah Nnamdi, Port Harcourt
NIGERIA: An imposter Police Inspector, Fred Monday, who was armed with an AK-47 rifle, 10 magazines, and 21 rounds of ammunition, has been arrested by the Rivers State Police command in Luegbo Community, Khana LGA of the state.
The 31-year-old was arrested alongside five suspected cultist students of Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori during a gruesome cult initiation ritual in Luegbo.
The police said Monday, a resident of Port Harcourt, confessed to purchasing the rifle and ammunition from an accomplice, identified as Goodluck aka Boy-J, in 2021, adding that they used the weapon and police uniform during their criminal operations.
Parading the suspect alongside others, on Thursday, September 12, at the State Command, the State Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, said Monday’s audacious scheme was blown open because he disguised himself as a Police Inspector to carry out nefarious activities.
He said: “Operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Rivers State Police Command responded to an intelligence report of a criminal operation in Luegbo Community in Khana Local Government Area.
“On arriving at the scene, the Police met with an ongoing gruesome Cult initiation process. Five suspects, later found to be students of the Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic, were arrested.
“The students, Mduni Clement, Prosper Wonyingipreye, Kunle Joseph, Eken Evans, and Isaiah Elisha, confessed to being members of the Vikings confraternity. They have been charged in court and are presently in a correctional centre.
“While carrying out the arrest of the five cultists, the Police encountered a man with them; fully dressed in Police camouflage and donning the rank of an Inspector of Police.
“He was armed with an AK-47 rifle, ten magazines, and twenty-nine rounds of live ammunition. He was taken into custody and after interrogations, his identity was revealed as Fred Monday, a 31-year-old from Wiyakara Community in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State and resident at F-man Close, Eneka Link Road, Port Harcourt.
Apart from the arms and ammunition, the police said Monday also bought 10 magazines, 31 rounds of ammunition, and two hand grenades from his accomplice.
CP Disu said ‘Inspector’ Monday revealed how he and members of his gang don police uniforms to provide cover for criminal operatives in the six Southsouth states.
However, the Police Commissioner noted that the Police are closing in on other members of Monday’s gang as the investigation continues.
